The Network for Women’s Rights in Ghana (NETRIGHT) says the marriage between the 63-year-old, Gborbu Wulomo of Nungua and the 12-year-old Naa Okromo is an infringement on the girl’s human right.
Child brides were more vulnerable to poverty, Sexually Transmitted Diseases when they got pregnant, and faced higher risks, including death during delivery.
Professor Akosua Darkwah, the NETRIGHT Convenor, told the Ghana News Agency (GNA) on Thursday that the act violated the child’s rights, which involved her right to life, dignity, respect, leisure, liberty, health, education and shelter.
‘When girls become brides before they can decide for themselves, it limits their agency and autonomy and seriously undermines their well-being and ability to reach their full potential,’ she said.
‘In a country governed by national and international laws which superseded any tradition and custom, it was disturbing to observe the impunity with which the laws were taken for granted and disregarded even in the heart of the capital
.’
Professor Darkwah quoted ‘Article 22 subsection 2 of the 1992 Constitution of Ghana as saying, ‘all cultural practices which dehumanise or are injurious to the physical and mental wellbeing of a person are prohibited.’
Also, the Children’s Act of 1998 prohibited child marriage and an entrenched clause in the criminal code to give out a child for marriage.
She reminded the Ga Dangme Traditional Council that the Children’s Act allowed girls at 18 years as the minimum age for marriage and further outlawed any form of child marriage within the jurisdiction, adding that Ghana and all its citizens were mandated to uphold the stipulations of the law to the latter, irrespective of who was involved.
The Professor further noted the negative social, physical and psychological impact of some cultural practices on girls, in particular, which had been widely documented and acknowledged to serve as useful tools in protecting and preserving better womanhood.
The NETRIGHT was also not enthused by the justification of
the act by members of the Nungua Traditional Council as a practice that had existed for generations and appealed to the Council of Chiefs to intervene in the blatant disregard of the laws of the land and make a clear statement about the importance of respecting the human rights enshrined in the Ghanaian Constitution, especially the Children’s Act 1998.
Professor Darkwah appealed to the Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection to institutionalise a system for monitoring and the protection of the child in question against any further infringement on her rights as a child.
Source: Ghana News Agency
